—Sheryl Gay Stolberg takes a look at Obama’s powers of persuasion in today’s Times and finds he’s more mind-over-matter than arm-twister when it comes to whipping up votes.

—Mike Allen reports on the preliminary framework taking shape for Obama’s re-election effort. The broad strokes: Jim Messina, White House deputy chief of staff and 2008 campaign vet, would likely manage the effort from Chicago. Message guru David Axelrod might depart Washington to focus solely on the campaign, while other Obama confidantes such as Robert Gibbs and Valerie Jarret remain at the White House.

–Yesterday’s CBO report on stimulus performance seems like vindication for Democrats, estimating 1 million to 2.1 million jobs created in the fourth quarter of 2009. What appears to be missing is a victory lap from the White House — or at least an effort to talk about it. Chief Economist Jared Bernstein slapped up a post on the “Recovery Blog” at 8 pm last night, but I haven’t heard much else. No statement from the president or Christina Romer TV tour. With polls still showing a huge amount of public skepticism on the Recovery Act, I don’t know what they are waiting for.